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Grand Idol (MC Universe)
The Grand Idol is an ancient colossus originally created in the now flooded region where Cyrasia and Leir meet between modern Arguros and Govadia. Characteristics The Grand Idol is humanoid and shape and stands at 200 feet tall, and is made of brass with a coat of gold on the outside. Its head has four faces. The one on the front is that of a man, the back is a bull, its left is a lion and its right is an eagle. The idol itself houses the tortured soul of king Nebu, a former Bargod who became a master of dark magic after touching a crystal that arrived in a meteorite. While Nebu was once a human, his mind has since degenerated into pure hatred and bloodlust having long since forgotten why he became trapped inside the statue in the first place. Associated with the Grand Idol is a curse laid upon the descendants of the warlord Dariel that forces nightmares and hallucinations upon those afflicted unless they make blood sacrifices in the Grand Idol's name. An additional notable trait is that those with the curse become very long-lived, never appearing physically older than the middle-aged phase of life even as elders. Despite this, those with the curse still have short life expectancy due to their higher chance of either getting executed or committing suicide. History Ascension In the time of ancient Emsius before the Great Crusade, a meteor containing a dark crystal brimming with miraculum crashed in the desert. A group of miners was sent shortly after to collect ore from the rock that came from the heavens, but one of the miners known as Nebu touched the raw crystal and inadvertently absorbed all of its power at once to become a living god gaining the knowledge of dark magic everything from manipulating emotions to binding demons to his will. He also claimed to have a vision of the future when Asmos planned to end all creation, looking upon a giant with four faces - a man, a bull, a lion and an eagle. Immediately, Nebu believed that he would become this giant and set about to fulfill his destiny as he believed to be designated by Asmos himself. However, the power quickly went to his head. Using his newly acquired powers to his advantage, Nebu went on to usurp the throne become a god-king. Now on the throne, he demanded that a colossus be constructed to serve as a monument to his godhood. It would be constructed in the likeness of the giant which he described in his vision. Upon its completion, Nebu ordered that every man and woman in the land worship the statue, which he called the Grand Idol, lest they be thrown into a furnace. Dariel's arrival Sometime later, a mage warlord and devout Asmosian named Dariel and his company of men passed into the area to seek shelter from their long journey in the desert. However, Dariel was only faithful to Asmos and refused to worship any god but him. Once Nebu got word of Dariel's blasphemous acts, he was thrown into the furnace, but Dariel used his abilities to bend the fire around him and his men so that they were unharmed. Having never seen such skill with magic, Nebu challenged Dariel to a duel. The exact nature of the battle remains unknown, but the legends describe it as one that lasted forty days and forty nights. Mountains were moved and tsunamis crashed on the shores, as many describe. But in the end, Dariel emerged the victor, but the victory did not come without great cost. The only way for Dariel to defeat Nebu was to seal him inside the colossus, but with that Nebu laid a curse on Dariel. For the rest of eternity, Dariel and his descendants would be cursed with unending nightmares and hallucinations unless he provided blood sacrifices to appease him. And should he find a way to remove the curse, then Nebu would return in the form of the colossus come to life and carry out his destiny as the bringer of the end. Dariel's Empire Soon, although Dariel tried his hardest to resist, he began to succumb to the nightmares and hallucinations eventually going mad. And thus, in his insanity, Dariel chose to round up his men and conquer the area that was once Nebu's kingdom. He ended up slaughtering thousands, and he slept with countless women. Overnight, he was transformed from a pure-hearted devout Asmosian to a horrifying monster as bad as Nebu himself. Decades later when Dariel grew old, he unwittingly realized he had become a father to a large number of children from his conquests all of which unknowingly bore the same curse that he did. Realizing that he had condemned dozens to his same fate, he decided to attempt to kill his own children in an effort to put them out of their misery and to prevent the spread of the curse any further. However, his men intervened believing that he would be going too far by slaying his own family. Thus, Dariel prayed to Asmos endlessly hoping to get the cursed removed by him and to undo the mistakes he made, but Asmos never answered leading Dariel to believe that he was denied forgiveness. Unwilling to deal with the consequences of his blasphemous act, he took his own life. Hundreds of years later, during a clash between two unknown Bargods the region that was once Dariel's Empire became flooded burying the colossus beneath the ocean. Overtime, the legends became forgotten save what was written in the Book of Prophecy. After millenia of being trapped under the ocean and forgotten by those that once worshiped him, Nebu would eventually go mad as his mind and soul deteriorated over time until he became a bottled up embodiment of pure hatred. His consciousness vanished as he became a being driven purely by instinct desiring the blood sacrifices not out of revenge for his defeat, but just to lessen the pain of his torment. Thus, Nebu ironically succumbed to the same curse which he bestowed upon Dariel - the difference being that Nebu could not die given that his soul was trapped in the Grand Idol, unable to go to either Heaven or Hell. Resurfacing of the curse Because there were no extensive record keeping during Dariel's time, much of his family history became lost over time. It was thought that the entirety of Dariel's family was wiped out in the flood, but as it turns out, there were survivors. While the exact lineage towards Dariel remains unknown, it is believed that his descendants survived in isolated, roving tribes that occasionally invaded a large city to satisfy the urges of the curse. At the time though, they did not know that the curse was genetic as they were unaware of the events between Dariel and Nebu. As a result, the curse quietly spread across multiple bloodlines and heritages. When the nation of Arguros was founded directly west of what was once Dariel's Empire, it was eventually discovered that the Carnelian noble family was in fact the descendants of Dariel, and thus bore the very same curse. With the sudden boost of Carnelian family numbers, the blood sacrifices and the nightmares became a sickness among them. However, since Dariel's time, knowledge on miraculum and dark magic had greatly increased leading to numerous methods of dealing with the curse. The Carnelians focused on honing their mind to resist the nightmares and the urges to kill, while the offshoot family of Sardius sought to embrace the curse believing it to be a new path for knowledge and self-discovery. In the 1920s, a method of curing everyone afflicted by the curse was discovered, but if the legends are true, doing so will awaken the Grand Idol from the depths of the ocean and send it into a rampage of hatred. Category:Articles by User:Krayfish